Define Yourself

No, seriously. What would you do if you were asked to define yourself? You have seven pages of the common application, plus a supplement if asked. But don’t tell too much, after all, only fifteen minutes are spent reviewing your application. So you better be your best self. Don’t make any mistakes, mind you, and don’t be cliche.

Argh! Colleges have to know that I can’t define myself in an application. Yes, you know my grades, my SAT scores, my AP scores, my extracurriculars, my most important activity, and my family information. But how can you possibly know from the info on my Mom that she likes brain/cognitive science and that influenced me? Or that her organization has helped me? How can a college know about everyday things that I do that I think set me apart? They won’t know. So please, don’t tell me that I’m defining myself! I’m trying to give you a picture of myself, my academics, and my life. I’ll forget some things, undoubtedly, and I’ll never have enough space to write how my family has impacted me.

Obviously, I’m in the process of writing my applications. I hate waiting, and I hate knowing that there’s a point you get to with SATs, GPAs, essays, etc. where it really is just luck of the draw. The worst part is I made two small mistakes on my common application. One is similar to [a but the problem was resolved]. See that extra a? Isn’t it annoying? I hope the readers don’t notice or don’t care. Another is just schoolyear instead of school year. I’m okay with that one. I’m just so paranoid that I have more mistakes. I’ve read it ten times, and only found those two. Hopefully, since they read it ONCE, they won’t see them.

Anyway, I am submitting two more applications today. I was going to submit three, but I have not had an interview for the third. I just want to be able to click the check box “off campus interview.”

I hope anyone who actually reads this blog has a happy halloween. Good luck to all my friends applying.

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1 responses to “Define Yourself”

I completely and totally and one hundred percent understand. I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit the past few months working on applications and it is dreadful. I’ve had the exact same feeling when it comes to trying to define yourself in two pages or less… forget it. It doesn’t happen. Hence why a lot of schools have been crossed off my list! But I wouldn’t worry about those two mistakes. I’m sure in the flow of the essays they will be completely lost in translation. 😉